Partizan Rejects Celtic Bid: Ugresic Off to PAOK
Partizan turned down a bigger Celtic bid to honor its agreement with PAOK, as Ognjen Ugresic heads to Thessaloniki on Friday for a medical and to sign a contract worth up to eight million euros.
On Friday, Ognjen Ugresic was supposed to be on his way to Thessaloniki for a medical ahead of signing with PAOK. The paperwork was almost done, the price agreed, and Partizan’s captain thought the story was over. Then, at the last moment, Celtic called from Glasgow with an offer higher than the one the black and whites had already accepted.
The Scottish giants put 6.5 million euros fixed on the table, exactly 500,000 euros more than PAOK. The bonuses, 1.5 million euros, and the sell-on percentage, as much as 10 percent of any future sale, were identical to what had already been agreed with the Greeks. On paper, it was the better offer for a club to whom every euro matters right now. Partizan stuck with the original deal anyway.
Why did Partizan turn down the bigger offer?
The answer wasn’t purely financial. At Humska, the feeling was that this was a commitment to PAOK, a club Partizan has a friendly relationship with, and that a deal doesn’t get torn up just because someone shows up with a fatter check. Club president Rasim Ljajic explained the decision to Mozzart Sport:
It’s true that Celtic got in touch and offered more than PAOK. That 500,000 euro difference would have meant a lot to us given the situation Partizan is in, because in the current circumstances that’s a significant amount of money. We gave our word to the people at PAOK, and at no point did we want to damage the brotherly relationship between the clubs, which matters far more to us than the profit we would have made from a potential transfer of Ugresic to Scotland.
Add it all up, including the fixed fee of between 6 and 6.5 million euros and bonuses of up to 1.5 million, and the transfer’s total value can reach eight million euros. On top of that, Partizan keeps a percentage of any future sale of the player, meaning the club stays tied to the story even if Ugresic changes clubs again in a few years. The payment schedule is already set: the first installment, 2.5 million euros, arrives in September, followed by installments of 500,000 euros each.
Forcan confirms: “He has a special place at the club”
The transfer was confirmed to SDNA by Partizan vice president Milka Forcan, putting an end to weeks of speculation over the young midfielder’s future.
He was an important part of Partizan in recent years, a player who has a special place at the club.
Forcan added that, in the club’s accounting, the eight million euro figure includes that sell-on percentage, and that Ugresic has been one of the players fans at Humska have taken to over the past few seasons.
Ugresic played 63 matches for Partizan, scoring 13 goals and adding four assists. Solid numbers for a midfielder, but the stretch in which he wore the armband, his last as captain, ends without a trophy and without reaching the group stage of a European competition. The transfer coincides, symbolically, with Partizan’s elimination from Conference League qualifying by Getafe just a day earlier. The club is saying goodbye to its captain in the same week it was knocked out of Europe.
What’s next
Ugresic travels to Thessaloniki on Friday, where a medical and a contract signing with PAOK await him. There, a club that sees him as reinforcement for a season already underway is waiting. Partizan, meanwhile, now has to work out who takes over in midfield and, above all, who wears the armband after him. The money from this transfer arrives in two stages, the first installment already in September, but the gap on the pitch needs filling well before that. The next test comes this very weekend, in the first Serbian SuperLiga round after the transfer window closes, when it will become clear for the first time who at Humska inherits Ugresic’s spot.
